your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. as the temperature rises, so does the fear. the nuclear crisis in japan, the radiation threat and the newest explosion. and yes, california does have nuclear power plants. how prepared are we if disaster strikes here? good morning, everyone. it is tuesday, the 15th of march. the ides of march. i'm sydnie kohara. >> hi, everybody. i'm frank mallicoat. good to have you back after a nice break. >> tough to get this up morning but i'm here. >> back in time for the rain, i guess, right, julie watts? >> exactly. i was hoping syd would bring with her some sunshine. >> i had a lot of sunshine where i was but we need the

rain. >> we are going to get some today especially in the north bay. hi-def doppler, starting off with showers already this morning. beginning in the north bay for the morning commute and gradually tapering to showers as it spreads south throughout the day. i'll time it out coming up. let you know how much you will see in your neck of the woods in just a bit. but first let's check traffic with elizabeth. >> we are back in the traffic department. we're monitoring roadwork. we have a little bit of roadwork extending until 5 a.m. northbound 880. if you are traveling up and down the nimitz freeway between fruitvale and fifth at embarcadero, various lanes blocked for another half hour or so but past the coliseum, everything nice and quiet. we have roadwork on the dumbarton bridge, eastbound 84 as you approach the high-rise. various lanes blocked there and eastbound 84 until 6 a.m. over no huge delays. back to you. >> thank you.

let's get you updated on what's happening in japan. a dramatic rescue today there. a 70-year-old woman was found alive in her home trapped since friday's tsunami. as charlie d'agata reports, the damaged nuclear power plant is releasing radioactivity into the atmosphere. >> reporter: dangerous levels of radiation are now leaking from this nuclear power plant following a third explosion. the level seems very high, japan's prime minister warned, and there's still a very high risk of more radiation coming out. the blast damaged the containment structure of a reactor. a four reactor also caught fire. tens of thousands nearby residents have already been evacuated. those still living with a 20- mile radius are urged to stay indoors, avoid drinking tap water, and keep their houses airtight. japan's nuclear crisis began to unfold after last friday's earthquake and tsunami damaged the plant. officials have been scrambling to avoid a meltdown ever since

and are now asking the u.s. for help. >> in particular, they have asked for additional types of equipment that will help provide water and other resources to ensure that the reactors continue to be cool. >> reporter: fears of a full- blown meltdown have spread to tokyo located 150 miles from the plant. officials there have detected low levels of radiation and a shift in winds threatens to push it even further. even without a possible nuclear disaster, japan is facing its worst crisis since world war ii. the death toll from the quake and tsunami jumped today to more than 2400 confirmed dead but official warn that number is likely to top 10,000. now the country faces an economic crisis, as well. this morning, japanese stocks plummeted more than 10%. in oyama, japan, charlie d'agata, cbs 5. ou can

see the waves hi and we are getting more amateur video of the moments just before the powerful tsunami hit japan. you can see the waves hitting the shore, smashing boats in the bay while all the seagulls scatter. nearly 600 people are confirmed dead in this town alone. thousands more are missing. if the quake, tsunami and nuclear crisis weren't bad enough, there is a new problem. panic buying. people in japan swarming to shops and gas stations stocking up on supplies. officials fear that hoarding may keep emergency food aid from those who really need it. and for survivors of the disaster, raw emotion surfaced as reunions and the search for loved ones continue. it is 4:34 now. state and federal officials say california's two nuclear power plants are well prepared for any natural disaster.

pg&e says the mount diablo plant in san luis obispo county would survive any earthquake up to a magnitude 7.5 and in san diego county, the san onofrio, california edison, says it can withstand a 7.0 quake and has a 30-foot wall to hold off a potential tsunami. >> notwithstanding, we mean our ability to shut it down and maintain it safely, certainly you are not intending to operate the plant during an emergency but you want to shut it down and protect the public. we can do that. >> the government has sensors along the california coast to detect any radiation from our plants or from abroad. and efforts to continue in santa cruz harbor to recover boats that sunk in the tsunami. divers spent yesterday attaching balloons to the boats to float them up to the surface. a crane handles the rest of the work. the work is slow and the work is dangerous. five boats have been pulled out thus far. a dozen are still out in the

water. owners can only watch and try to come to terms with their losses. >> it's a weird feeling to actually see your home and the place of your -- where you run your business and your lifestyle just get, you know, sucked away in 15 or 20 minutes. it's an act of god. you can't really, you know, you can't really question that too much. you just got to accept it and deal with the aftermath. >> most of the bystanders this week are owners who parked their boats at the u dock which was the hardest hit dock in santa cruz harbor. in crescent city the total number of damaged vessels is 53, including 15 that sank in their harbor. friday's wave destroyed the harbor there. a federal team will go there later this week and use sonar to map the sunken boats. the damage has hit the local fishing industry very hard. 4. 36. a bay area city shares a bond with people in japan near the

disaster zone. concord has been a sister city with kitty cami since 1974. they have official exchanges every five years and both cities host visitors regularly. kitakami is 50 miles north of sendai and 40 miles inland. it was shaken but spared by the tsunami. the president of the concordage bass doors is friends with the japanese city's mayor. >> i haven't heard from him yet. his hands are full. they have 11 shelters in the city. they have been on and off with power and water. >> it is possible that kitakami will only need moral support but whatever the need, the people in concord are ready to step in. in 1995, an arsonist burned down concord city hall and kitakami officials offered help immediately. people who live in san francisco's japantown have already begun efforts to get

helped to the island nation. yesterday, members of the japanese cultural and community center gathered at their headquarters to get a relief fund under way to get money to the hardest hit regions. there are ways you can help. just log on to our website, cbssf.com. click on "links and numbers" for a list of agencies that are coordinating relief to japan. let's check weather. julie watts will take care of that. >> starting off with rain in the north bay just now moving in. in fact, hi-def doppler showing that now. let's go ahead and take a closer look at parts of the north bay and see some of the cells as we speak. you can see santa rosa nice moderate cell passing through right now getting showers in petaluma, all the way into wine country, sonoma, napa, showers this morning, as well. eventually, the heavier rain we see in the north bay will taper off as it moves south so showers for pretty much everyone by the end of the day but no, not a rainout for everyone.

we'll time that out for you coming up in a bit. in the meantime here's the satellite, you can see where the rain is coming from. we had this area of low pressure sitting just to the north of us offshore. it's going to continue to sit up there and keep our weather unsettled for the rest of the workweek. but i do think things will taper off by this evening and kind of that nuisance rain for much of the workweek until friday when we get our next nice soaker. and in the meantime, today temperatures similar to yesterday were mild this morning with current temperatures in the 50s and as we move into the afternoon hours with the temperatures once again in the 60s although a little bit cooler than yesterday. our full forecast coming up in a bit but first a check of the roadways with elizabeth. >> we are off to a great start on this tuesday morning. no major hot spots anywhere across the bay area. still have lingering roadwork. eastbound 84 near the high-rise various lanes blocked until 6 a.m. but not causing delays and your westbound 84 ride towards menlo park looks great. south bay all top speeds. we have live traffic sensors out there showing you mostly

green on our sensors meaning speeds above 40 miles per hour. you can maybe make out a few headlights there, cars traveling up northbound 280 approaching the 880 interchange. your drive time looks great, 11 minutes between 101 and 85 towards cupertino. here's live look at the bay bridge toll plaza where everything is cruising as well into san francisco. and mass transit is all running on time. back to you. >> thank you. 4:40. the tsunami traveled all the way from japan right here to the bay area. coming up, will the ripple effect also extend to our economy? >> plus, five people shot at a bay area bar. the neighborhood where it happened that's become a hotspot for crime. >> and the disaster in japan prompting a new emergency alert system here in the south bay. the five digits you need to know to get a heads up via text coming up.

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welcome back. this is hi-def doppler, watching showers if not rain moving into the north bay this morning spreading south and tapering off throughout the day. we'll talk more about that and time it out coming up in just a bit. >> all right, julie, thanks much. it is 4:43. the disaster in japan prompting santa clara county into action. the county is expanding it system to notify people in case of an emergency. the alert scc system is adding a text number so people can get messages about emergency shelters, street closures, medical assistance and other vital information quickly. santa clara county residents can sign up for the alerts by texting 32075 or by going to alertscc.com. now, the japanese earthquake will likely have an impact on the silicon valley. one company, renaissance of santa clara, is a world leader

in microcontroller chips which are critical in cars. it confirms that seven of its 22 factories in japan have shut down production temporarily. that could lead tie shortage of key parts for -- lead to a shortage of key parts for cars and other consumer products. >> you will find like one per window in the automatic windows that roll down just to, you know, monitor when the window is all the way down and when it's up. >> any price hikes are likely to occur at the wholesale level and not for consumers. another major company with plants in japan is san disk which makes flash memory cards. its plants shut down briefly after the quake but that's, quote, a minimum immediate impact at this point. a shooting in san francisco sent five people to the hospital one with critical injuries. the gunfire erupted in the

mission district at the el tintan bar at 11:00 last night. witnesses saw two men running from the scene and driving away in a white station wagon. no word on arrests and no motive yet. an armed standoff ended peacefully last night after nearly five hours holed up inside a bank of america in corte madera. the gunman surrendered. witnesses say the man walked into the bank yesterday with what appears to be a typewritten manifesto. he rambled on and on about the financial system and capitalism while waving a gun. then he locked himself inside the building after letting bank customers and employees leave. >> what did he say? >> this he didn't want to harm anyone, that he was there to make statement about the economy and banking in general and just how corrupt and run by criminals it is.

>> police say the man demanded a conversation with the ceo of bank of america and speak with president obama before he surrendered. today is the deadline for pg&e to hand over documents proving that its gas pipe pressure levels are say. the state public utilities commission gave the company that deadline in the wake of the san bruno blast. if pg&e fails to come up with sufficient documentation, the cpuc is expected to tell utility to do some testing to check for leaks. that could be an expensive and inconvenient effort for pg&e's customers. it's not clear who would pay for that. 4:46. coming up, the robbery that caused so much damage it closed a bay area school for the day. >> plus gas prices run and so is bay area transit ridership. we have the numbers coming up. and how governor brown hopes a dog can help take a bite out of budget problem. ,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

elementary school" over the weekend, forcing the school to cancel all classes yesterday. the robbers went through 30 clas ters, thievesransackedd east pride elementary school over the weekend and classes were cancelled yesterday. they stole computers, projecters even a safe from the principal's office. the alarm was off and thieves knew where all the valuables were, so it was thought to be an inside job. classes resume today. a bay area lawmaker is taking a tough stance against school bullying. tom ammiano introduced a bill to require school districts to create tougher measures against bullying. it's called seth's law in memory of seth walsh, a 13-year- old gay student from tehachapi who killed himself in september. california teachers are watching their mailboxes today for pink slips. hundreds of teachers in the bay area are being notified they might not have jobs next school year. today is the legal deadline for

making those tentative notifications. the final deadlines to tell teachers their jobs are cut is may 15. by then, school districts will know whether there will be a special election to extend taxes that governor brown says are needed to avoid education cuts. with gas prices at $4 a gallon, more people are taking mass transit especially those are long commutes. the "mercury news" reports that ridership on the ace train from stockton to san jose is up 11%. capitol corridor up 13 persons. bart, caltrans, vta and golden gate transit up 5% or more. the governor's office is banking on a new solution to balance the state's $26 billion budget deficit. meet governor brown's corgie. some of the items for sale with

his image might take the bite out of the deficit. dog loves have concerns. >> it's a good idea but there's other things to do to balance the budget. >> probably so. with $3 from every item sold going to the general fund, the state would have to sell 887 million items of sutter merchandise or if the 37 million people who live here in california each bought two dozen t-shirts we would solve the budget crisis. good luck. >> i might buy one. very cute. so rain out there right now beginning already this morning in the north bay. you can see it's moving in here. showers throughout the rest of the bay. now, not widespread but definitely going to see spotty showers as you head out this morning. head out on the roads, as you can see, look at this a cell passing over the golden gate as we speak. also over 92 moving into the

east bay. sporadic for the morning hours for much of the folks outside of the south bay, heavier in the north bay. out the door, north bay rain, chance of showers elsewhere. cloudy with showers for the bay and the coast. later on today, a similar story. heavier rain in the north and then we will see sporadic showers throughout the bay and the coast and cloudy and gray temperatures similar to yesterday in the 60s for most folks a little cooler. offshore we are seeing heaviest rain in the north. as the front moves southeast, we'll see the heavier rain kind of taper to showers for the rest of us. but again, expect to see some sprinkles throughout the day today if not rain depending where you are. it's just beginning. we have this area of low pressure sitting off the british columbia coast that's going to keep us unsettled starting today and through the weekend. we'll see wave after wave really just nuisance rain for tomorrow and thursday and the next good soaker looks to be on friday as that makes its way

inland. in the meantime, rainfall today could see 1.5" in the north bay mountains, urban areas closer to .75" and not nearly as much for folks in the south bay maybe .2" at best, not a lot, same for the peninsula and the east bay. santa cruz mountains could see about .3." as we look at the temperatures, pretty mild. not going to be that scarf, no bundling up today. temperatures in the 60s, 67 in santa clara. east bay temperatures warmer further inland. 62 alameda. north bay cooler. you will see the most rain today. 57 san anselmo, 57 kentfield. seven-day forecast shows showers throughout the day today, rain for the north bay, and nuisance rain wednesday, thursday. looks like friday could be a good soaker and then we stay unsettled well into the weekend. now for a check of the roads, here's elizabeth. >> is there a difference between nuisance rain and

regular rain? >> nuisance rain is that stuff that's ugly on the road making you put on the windshield wipers. you know. >> i think all rain is a little bit of a nuisance rain. okay. outside, live look 101 traffic through san jose. quiet. no issues this morning. 101 near mckee, headlights northbound. looking good out there. all right. let's go to the maps and we can talk about a little bit of overnight roadwork. still lingering on highway 4 eastbound through pittsburg until 6 a.m. much better news as far as fog advisories. yesterday we had them across the richmond/san rafael bridge. there was also one for the golden gate bridge yesterday. not the case today. we are seeing live look just doing the lane change now getting four southbound lanes open towards san francisco. still very quiet. one headlight towards the pay gates. 880/237 milpitas, looking good

towards silicon valley. mass transit is on time for bart, ace, muni and caltrain. remember our radio partners, kcbs 740-am and 106.9-fm. back to you. >> thank you. taking a look at health news now, scientists say having a bad job could be worse for your mental health than no job to at all. researchers in australia surveyed more than 7,000 people. those who found jobs that they considered good experience had an improvement in psychological well-being but when they got a job they thought was poor, they felt worse mentally than when they were unemployed. new data indicates heavy drinking can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer. scientists at the american cancer society tracked more than a million people over 4 years and those with three or more drinks a day were 36% more likely to die from the disease.

heavy alcohol consumption has also been linked to cancer of the throat, liver and breasts. eating fish may help women keep thei vision. a study found women who ate fish regularly were 42% less likely to develop age-related vision loss. researchers believe that omega- 3 fatty acids in fish provide the protection. it's also been found to reduce the risk of heart disease, strokes and high blood pressured. the earthquake in japan has actually shortened our days, believe it or not. a nasa geophysicist says the force shifted enough mass to accelerate the spinning of the earth, believe it or not. you probably won't notice the change though. the quake shaved about 1.8 microseconds off our 24-hour day. for that to happen, that was amazing what happened. >> very, very powerful. it is 4:56. pink slips go out today. >> hundreds of bay area

teachers expected to get their pink slips today. the protests that are planned coming up. and just what does it take to save one tree in san francisco? the three moth saga and almost everything -- make that a three- month saga in which almost everything that could go wrong did go wrong. stay with us. ,,,,,,,,,,

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because everyone deserves a lifetime. your realtime captioner is linda marie macdonald. caption colorado comments@captioncolorado.com more trouble this morning at a japanese nuclear power plant. what some people are being urged to wear and take. five people shot in san francisco overnight. the neighborhood war that gunfire erupted. -- the neighborhood where that gunfire erupted. good morning. thank you for joining us. it's tuesday, march 15. i'm sydnie kohara. >> we are halfway through the month. hi, everybody. i'm frank mallicoat. time now almost 5:00. 4:59 in about 34 seconds, closing in on 5:00. if you like the rain, you will love tuesday. >> and wednesday and thursday and friday and weekend... so basically, we are in a pretty wet weather pattern. today what we're seeing is the heaviest rain in e